Meeting documents

Licensing and Appeals Committee
Wednesday, 20th March, 2013 7.30 pm

Place:
Civic Suite, Gibson Building, Kings Hill, West Malling
ItemDescriptionResolution
PART 1 - PUBLIC
LA 13/010 Declarations of interest.
 There were no declarations of interest made.
LA 13/011 Minutes
 RESOLVED: That the Minutes of the meeting of the Licensing and Appeals Committee held on 5 December 2012 be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.
LA 13/012 Minutes
 RESOLVED: That the Minutes of the meetings of the Licensing and Appeals Committee sitting as a Panel held on 29 November, 13 December 2012, 12 February and 27 February 2013 be received and noted.
MATTERS FOR RECOMMENDATION TO THE COUNCIL
LA 13/013 Review of Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Policy
 The report of the Director of Central Services and Monitoring Officer referred to the draft revised Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Policy (2013-2016) approved for the purposes of consultation by the Committee on 5 December 2012 (Minute LA 12/107). Members were updated on the results of the comprehensive consultation exercise including the outcome of discussions at a series of workshops for stakeholders from the taxi trade together with a number of individual representations received. Consideration was given to a proposed revised version of the Policy to be submitted to the Council for adoption.

Members requested that the use of wraps (bonnet of a different colour) to help differentiate hackney carriages from private hire vehicles, including comparison with other areas, be reported back to the next meeting. The Committee recorded thanks to the Licensing Manager and team for their work in organising the workshops and drawing up the revised policy.

RECOMMENDED: That the Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Policy set out at Annex 2 to the report be commended to the Council for adoption subject to the following amendments:

Para 4.6.5 (Vehicle age) - no age restriction on licensing limousines "and historic vehicles";

Para 5.5.4 (Medical examination) - wording amended to "Drivers of 65 and over must undertake a medical examination annually";

Para 5.5.5 (Medical examination) - list amended to "Double vision or uncorrected vision disorder";

Para 9.12.1 (Fire extinguisher) - "Optional" changed to "Preferred";

Para 9.13.1 (First aid equipment) - "Optional" changed to "Preferred"; and

Para 9.14 (Communication devices) - paragraphs 9.14.1 to 9.14.3 be retained in the Policy.
*Referred to Council
MATTERS FOR CONSIDERATION IN PRIVATE
LA 13/014 Exclusion of Press and Public
 There were no items considered in private.
The meeting ended at 2003 hours

Attendance Details

Present:
Cllr C Brown (Chairman), Cllr A W Allison (Vice-Chairman), Cllr J A L Balcombe, Cllr O C Baldock, Cllr Mrs P Bates, Cllr Mrs F A Kemp, Cllr S M King, Cllr H S Rogers, Cllr A K Sullivan and Cllr D J Trice.
In attendance:
Councillor Mrs Holland was also present pursuant to Council Procedure Rule No 15.21.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Mrs Anderson and Mrs Woodger.